Allardyce to be named new England boss

Highlights – TSG 1899 Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund

Reports from the UK appear to confirm that Sam Allardyce will be named new England manager within the next 24 hours.

The 61-year-old will depart his job as Sunderland boss after nine months with the club to take over from Roy Hodgson, who resigned in the wake of England’s disastrous Euro 2016 elimination at the hands of Iceland.

Allardyce has been chosen ahead of Hull manager Steve Bruce; both men were said to have been in the running for the job.

With the new Premier League season less than a month away, Sunderland and Hull had urged the FA to move quickly and pick Hodgson’s successor.

Allardyce’s first competitive game in charge will be a World Cup qualifier in Slovakia in early September.

The former West Ham, Newcastle and Bolton boss has overseen more than 450 Premier League games during a long managerial career, with only Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp boasting more experience.

He has never won a major trophy but did guide both Bolton and West Ham to Premier League promotion.

In taking charge of the Three Lions, Allardyce faces arguably one of the toughest jobs in world football, and FA chief executive Martin Glenn warned the incumbent earlier in the week that he would need to be extraordinarily resilient to cope with the pressures of the role.

“The British press, like it or not, are probably the most intensely passionate about the game in the world and that has a spill-over effect,” Glenn told BBC Sport.

“The consequence of which is people probably play not to make a mistake, as opposed to play to win.

“So the new manager’s got to be someone who can inspire people to get the best out of themselves, build resilience and unashamedly adopt the kind of psychological techniques that other sports and other football teams have done.”